


How to Fix What's Broken

by caffeinatednightowl, Mirror_Verse



Series: Mirror-Verse [11]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Domestic, Angst, Break Up, Flashbacks, Hospitals, M/M, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-14
Updated: 2013-05-14
Packaged: 2017-12-11 21:29:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/803453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caffeinatednightowl/pseuds/caffeinatednightowl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirror_Verse/pseuds/Mirror_Verse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>PAST: Continuation of <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/803412">Breaking Up With Benny</a> Dean reconciles with Cas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Fix What's Broken

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hernameisgeorge](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hernameisgeorge/gifts), [NinaRooxx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinaRooxx/gifts), [nekoshojo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekoshojo/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Breaking Up With Benny](https://archiveofourown.org/works/803412) by [Mirror_Verse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirror_Verse/pseuds/Mirror_Verse), [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



> Art done by [Nekoshojo](http://nekoshojo.tumblr.com)

"Man..." Dean sighed, as he parked his car across the street from Cas's apartment. He wished the guy had just answered his phone call last night.

Dean sighed, getting out of his Baby and slamming the door shut. Well, if Cas wasn't gonna answer his phone, then Dean would have to talk to him face-to-face.  

He walked across the street, not bothering to look both ways, thinking over last night in his head. He knew how it must've appeared to Cas. Having forgotten to go with him when he promised and instead blowing him off to have sex. He knew, even from the moment he first met him a few months ago, that Cas didn't have many friends, so that must've felt really cold. 

Though on the subject of last night, there was that...other thing...Dean gritted his teeth when he thought about it. It was...well, it was wrong and he knew it. 

Besides, Cas was one of the nicest people he had ever known. He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve a shitty friend like him. 

He was just at the door when Cas opened it up. "Cas!" Cas stared at him for a moment, like a deer caught in headlights, and while Dean couldn't help that hopeful look on his face, Cas just looked like he might throw up. 

Cas shut the door behind him and walked past him, not looking him in the eye, "Why are you here, Dean?"

Dean's face fell. "Look, Cas, I'm sorry for last night--sorry for forgetting about that art exhibition. I know you wanted to go and I fucked up."

"Its fine," said Cas, hoisting his shoulder bag and walking on the sidewalk. "You don't have to apologize."

Dean followed Cas down the street. "C'mon Cas, just--I brought the car, okay? Lets just go to class."

Cas still didn't look back at him as he continued down toward the main road. "I don't need you to drive me, Dean. I'll walk."

Dean sped up, stepping in front of Cas and cutting him off. "Dude, its too far for you to walk. I'll drive you. Now come on; lets get in the car."

Cas met his eyes for only a moment before looking away. "I don't want to be a burden."

"You're not a--" Cas brushed past him, their shoulders sliding against one another as he kept walking. "Cas!"

"I don't need you to feel pity for me, Dean!" Cas yelled back, head down and hands in his pockets. "You don't need to hang out with me because you feel guilty."

"Who said I was--?"

"Just forget it!" said Cas, as he walked across the crosswalk. Never, in all nineteen years of Dean's life, did Dean feel so-- _annoyed._ Damn that guy, didn't he get it?

Dean clenched his teeth and marched across the walk, not bothering to look up at the flashing light above. "Damnit, Cas, would you listen to me--"

Cas turned back to him. Then his eyes went wide--mouth looking on in horror. "Dean--!"

Dean heard the roar of an engine; he turned, and saw the black streak of the truck bearing down on his own fragile body--

_Hooooooooonk!_

_Screeeeeeeeeeeeee!_

_Wham!_

Dean fell hard on the pavement, his shoulder slamming into the asphalt.  It hurt and it knocked the wind out of him, and when he was done seeing spots, he heard the slamming of a door. "Oh my God! I'm calling 911!"

Ugh, sonovabitch, he'd better feel sorry--

Dean groaned and sat up, and was about to tell the driver he wasn't that hurt, so to stop calling the police and just help him up--

That was when he opened his eyes and saw Cas. 

Cas, lying on the ground in front of the truck, hand outstretched towards him. Cas, bleeding on the ground, eyes closed and not moving. 

_Cas...what...?_

That moment, he hadn't felt hard steel slamming into him--it was a warm touch. A push.

Cas had pushed him out of the way. 

Dean knelt over him, hearing the man frantically on the phone with the paramedics in the background. "Cas?"

He touched Cas's shoulder; he didn't respond. "Cas...man..." He shook him; nothing. 

" _Cas!"_

\----------------------------

 Sam came by as soon as high school was out. "How is he?" he asked, setting his backpack down on one of the hospitals increasingly-uncomfortable chairs. 

"One of Cas's brothers is flying down," Dean said, staring at his hands. "They were joking about moving here to keep an eye on him."

"Is he...that bad?"

Dean looked up, toward Cas's room. "He fractured two ribs and his wrist--he's gonna be mad when he wakes up; won't be able to draw for a while..." He tried to laugh, but all that came out was a pained squeak. 

"Dean, it wasn't your fault--"

Fifteen year old kids should not try to be shrinks, Dean decided. "Look, I've done some shitty things lately, and I know it. Last night and now--Cas wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me! So don't tell me how--"

"Well, maybe you should try to resolve things so they don't create any other problems."

Dean glared at his brother. "I thought you wanted to be a lawyer. You wanna be a shrink now?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Dean, just call Benny. Work things out once and for all. Then go in there and say whatever you need to say to Cas." With that, he hoisted his backpack up on his shoulder. "Now I gotta go; got lots of AP homework to do tonight."

"What, you're gonna walk in here, say your words of wisdom, and  _leave?"_

"I've got a ton of homework to do, Dean. Plus, I'm just a kid; its what I'm good for," he smirked. 

"Bitch," Dean smirked back. 

"Jerk." With that, Sam waved, and walked back down the hall. 

Now that Sammy was gone, Dean had nothing to do but sit in the chair and stare at his phone. Should he call Benny? Sam seemed to think it was a good idea, but then again, Sammy was also 15 and thought listening to Taylor Swift was a good idea. 

Dean glanced back across the hall, to see Cas lying in bed, unconscious, through the window. He gulped and made up his mind. 

His heart pounded in anticipation as the phone rang. Once. Twice. Three times and he was about to hang up when "...Dean?"

He swallowed. "Benny."

"Why are you calling?" his voice sounded cold. 

"I just...." He paused again. "I'm sorry...about all of this. About how everything turned out...I fuck up everything, don't I?" 

Before Benny could get a chance to respond, the hospital pager said loudly above his head,  _"Paging Doctor Whitmore; you're needed in surgery. Paging Doctor Whitmore..."_

"Are you in a  _hospital?"_ Benny asked, sounding concerned, though Dean wished he wouldn't.

"Yeah," his voice cracked when he said it. "Cas...that  _idiot_...he...he jumped in front of a car to save me, when I'm not even worth it..."

There was another pause. "He gonna be okay?"

Dean had to bite the inside of his lip for a moment when the corner of his eyes started watering. "Yeah...he was banged up, but he'll be fine. Still doesn't excuse the fact that it was my fault..."

Benny paused again. "You know, Dean, after last night--"

" _God,_ what?" Dean growled into the phone. "Gonna tell me that now you know everything was a mistake? That I wasn't worth it?"

"Dean, just listen," Benny cut him off. "Last night, I admit it, I was upset. So I went to a bar to get drunk and cool my head. And you know what? I met a girl there. Andrea. She had just gone through a breakup, too. Wonderful girl. I knew right then I had fallen for her."

It said something when Dean wasn't even upset; he felt  _glad_ ; relieved. "That's--that's great, Benny. You take care of her. Wish you the best with that."

"Same to you." Benny said softly. "Goodbye, Dean." 

"Yeah...bye..." There was a  _click!_  and then he heard a dial tone. 

Sad smile on his face, Dean snapped his phone shut.

\----------------------------------

He didn't know how long he was sitting there before the nurse came and got him. "Your friend is waking up."

Dean bounded out of the chair and through the door of Cas's room--his heart thumped in anticipation, and only beat faster as he saw Cas in bed, blue eyes wide open. He was covered in bruises and scrapes--hurt because of _him._ "Cas..."

"Dean," Cas breathed, before wincing and putting his left hand on his chest. Dean was at his side at once.

"Relax, man, they said you broke two ribs. It'll be hard to breathe for a while."

"Broke my wrist, too," said Cas sadly, holding up his right hand, wrapped in a cast. "Gonna have to do make-up work in art for a while."

"Yeah..." Dean sat in the chair at the bedside, looking at his  _stupid, stupid_  friend and unable to keep it bottled up in his chest. "Just...what the  _Hell_ , man?" 

Cas blinked, staring at him like a stunned cat as Dean continued, "Why would you do something so  _stupid?_  You could've gotten killed--!"

"I didn't want you to get hurt," said Cas, looking down at the scratchy hospital blanket. 

Of  _course_ Cas would say something stupid like that. "Cas, man, just don't--I would've--you could've gotten killed!" he repeated, wanting to knock that in to that guy's skull.

"I said, I didn't want you to get hurt." Cas continued to look away, tracing the thin bumps in the weaving of the blanket fabric with a finger. 

"But--that's just--" Dean had to screw up his face, feeling his eyes grow watery again. "Man that's--I'm not worth it, Cas!"

"Yes you are," Cas turned to him, his blue eyes wide and innocent. "I would've done it without a moment's thought."

"Cas--don't--"

"And if I had to, I would've done it again."

"God _DAMNIT_  Cas!" Dean roared, starting a nurse walking past the door in the hallway. "Don't you get it? I'm  _not worth that_! I'm the shittiest friend that ever was! I fuck up everything I want to work out--first Benny, and now you're stuck in the hospital because of me--I'll  _never_ be worth that, so why are you bothering--!"

Cas had his eyes closed for a moment, as if it was painful, before replying, "Because you were friends with me. I never understood why, but you are my friend," He opened his eyes now, that innocent, clear blue staring back into bewildered green. "So that's why. You are worth it, Dean. At least; you are to me."

Damnit, Cas was just so--he didn't understand. Dean knew he wasn't worth it; he didn't deserve this guy's friendship at all. He didn't deserve Cas thinking he needed to jump in front of freaking cars to save him. He shut his eyes tight, blinking away the last of what might've been tears. "Cas, you're a fucking idiot."

And yet Cas smiled at that, "I've been called worse."

Dean cracked out a shaky laugh. This fucking guy. "You're crazy. I'm gonna have to watch over to to make sure you don't do any other stupid things."

And yet, Cas kept smiling, "I wouldn't mind that."

 _You should_ , thought Dean, but he didn't voice it. As long as Cas thought he was worth it--he wouldn't complain. 

Cas was the first person who ever thought he was worth that. As long as Cas didn't mind--he'd be there. 


End file.
